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Booker T
Robert Booker Tio Huffman (March 1, 1965), better known as Booker T is a semi-retired American professional wrestler currently signed to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) as a color commentator on pay-per-view pre-show. Since returning from an extensive medical hiatus in 2013, Booker makes occasional appearances on WWE programs as a backstage personality. He is best known for his time in both WWE and World Championship Wrestling (WCW). He was inducted into the WWE Hall Of Fame in 2013. He has also worked for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), and is the owner of the Pro Wrestling Alliance. Booker T found early success in WCW where he founded the very popular tag team Harlem Heat alongside his brother, Stevie Ray. He is an overall 6-Time World Champion, winning the WCW Championship on five occasions and the WWE World Heavyweight Championship once. He has held various World Tag Team Championships throughout his career. He recently introduced the Legends Championship in TNA, becoming its first champion. On October 19, 2009, Huffman was released from his TNA contract. Professional wrestling career In March 2001, Booker T made his debut at the King of the Ring pay-per-view in 2001 attacking WWF Champion Stone Cold Steve Austin during his match, promptly injuring him in his very first move in the WWF. He later turned heel and became a leading member of The Alliance during the Invasion storyline. During July 2001, in his debut match in the company, Booker defeated Buff Bagwell. At InVasion, The Alliance defeated Team WWF when Steve Austin joined the Alliance. On July 26, Booker gave up his United States Title and handed it over to Chris Kanyon. He later lost World title to Kurt Angle, but he went on to win the title back on the July 30 episode of Raw. Booker kept the title until SummerSlam, when he lost it to The Rock after feuding with him over the similarity in their gimmicks and their identical finishing moves, the Book End/Rock Bottom. Booker T won the World Tag Team Championship for an eleventh time, this time with Test. At the Survivor Series, Booker T was eliminated third by The Rock after a roll-up and eventually The Alliance was defeated, causing them to disband. In its aftermath, Booker remained a heel, and he joined forces with Vince McMahon and The Boss Man in December to feud with Stone Cold Steve Austin. After Booker T cost Austin a match against Chris Jericho for the WWF Undisputed Championship at Vengeance, Austin gained revenge by attacking Booker T in a grocery store by covering him in food. Booker T's first WrestleMania appearance was at WrestleMania X8 against Edge. They feuded over who would appear in a fictional Japanese shampoo commercial. When the brand extension was introduced in March, Booker T was drafted to the Raw brand. Booker held the Hardcore Championship twice in May 2002, defeating Stevie Richards only to lose it to Crash Holly seconds later. He then re-defeated Crash and dropped the Belt to Stevie Richards a couple minutes later. Goldust began trying to start a tag team with Booker, but Goldust kept costing Booker matches. With the nWo now operating in WWE, Booker T was eventually invited into the faction. His time there was short-lived, when he got (literally) kicked out of the group by Shawn Michaels, who believed Booker T was taking away from his own spotlight. Booker then turned face and found a partnership with Goldust and the pair teamed to battle the nWo. Booker and Goldust had a title shot against The Un-Americans (Christian and Lance Storm) at SummerSlam, but The Un-Americans retained after interference from Test. At No Mercy, Booker and Goldust battled Chris Jericho and Christian for the tag titles, but they lost the match with Jericho using the title belt on Goldust. He spent the rest of 2002 teaming with Goldust. They won the World Tag Team Championship at Armageddon in a Tag Team Elimination match defeating the teams of Christian and Chris Jericho, Lance Storm and William Regal, and the Dudley Boyz. They held the belts for about three weeks, when they lost them to Regal and Storm. Booker and Goldust lost the rematch and decided to go their separate ways. The gimmick for Booker and Goldust was Goldust being a strange, yet dependable ally who Booker eventually warmed up to after initial skepticism. By 2003, however, Booker T's popularity had soared and he amicably separated from Goldust, at Goldust's request, in order to pursue the World Heavyweight Championship. In February 2003, he eliminated The Rock to win a battle royal for the number one contendership, granting him a title shot at WrestleMania XIX. Booker targeted Evolution after Batista and Randy Orton attacked Booker's former partner, Goldust. Booker T lost to Triple H at WrestleMania XIX. For several weeks, he teamed with Shawn Michaels and Kevin Nash in a feud against Triple H, Ric Flair, and Chris Jericho. At Backlash, Booker's team lost when Triple H pinned Nash after a sledgehammer shot. Afterward, Booker set his sights on the Intercontinental Championship. After losing a battle royal for the title at Judgment Day, Booker feuded with the champion Christian. After a few matches, Booker defeated him to become the new champion. About a month later, because of a nagging back injury, Booker lost the Intercontinental title back to Christian at a non-televised house show. Booker, meanwhile, was out of action until October. When Booker returned in 2003, he announced he would be on Team Austin at the Survivor Series which would determine if Eric Bischoff or Steve Austin would be the General Manager of Raw. Booker's team lost the match, so Austin lost his position as Co-General Manager of Raw. Booker then entered a feud with Mark Henry, the man who eliminated him in the Survivor Series match. Booker defeated Henry at Armageddon. On the February 16, 2004 episode of Raw, Booker T and Rob Van Dam defeated Ric Flair and Batista for the World Tag Team Championship. Booker and Van Dam held the titles for a month, even defending the belts at WrestleMania XX in a 4 Corners tag team match. Eight days later on the March 22 episode of Raw, they lost tag team titles to Flair and Batista. He ended up turning on Rob Van Dam, turning heel in the process. On March 23, 2004 he was "traded" (along with the Dudley Boyz) to the SmackDown! brand in exchange for Triple H, but as part of a new storyline, he appeared unhappy with the move. Later on, Booker T bragged about how he was the biggest star on SmackDown! and feuded with The Undertaker. Booker tried to utilize voodoo magic to try to overcome his "supernatural" foe; however, it did nothing to prevent him from losing to the Undertaker at Judgment Day. In mid-2004, Booker T set his sights on the United States Championship along with its champion, John Cena. After Cena got on the bad side of General Manager Kurt Angle, he did his best to get the title away from Cena. Cena successfully defended the title at The Great American Bash in a four-way elimination match against Booker, René Duprée, and Rob Van Dam. After Cena was stripped of his title by Angle for "laying a hand" on the GM, Booker took advantage of the situation and won an eight-man elimination match to win the vacant United States Championship, in a match that also featured Cena, Dupree, Billy Gunn, Charlie Haas, Luther Reigns, Kenzo Suzuki and Van Dam. Booker won by last eliminating both Cena and Van Dam in the course of less than 10 seconds. After Angle was fired by Mr. McMahon for embellishing his injuries, Theodore Long began his first tenure as Smackdown GM, and booked a best-of-five series of matches for the United States Championship between Booker and Cena. The first match took place at SummerSlam in Toronto and saw Cena gain the pinfall victory to go up 1-0 in the series. Booker would bounce back and win the next two matches, on the August 24 edition of Smackdown in Fresno, CA and a live event the next night in Sydney, AU, to take a 2-1 lead. The next match in the series wouldn't come until the September 16 Smackdown from Spokane, WA, where Cena won and tied the series at two apiece. The series culminated at No Mercy, where Cena won the series 3-2, and thusly, the US Title. On October 21, SmackDown! General Manager Theodore Long placed Booker in a six man tag team match with Rob Van Dam and Rey Mysterio against John "Bradshaw" Layfield (JBL), René Duprée, and Kenzo Suzuki. JBL expected Booker to betray his partners, but instead Booker pinned him, thus turning face again. Booker T faced JBL for the WWE Championship at the Survivor Series on November 14, but lost after he was hit in the head with the championship belt. The next night, Booker T demanded a rematch, citing Orlando Jordan's interference. He was then joined by Eddie Guerrero and The Undertaker who also wanted a shot at JBL's title, prompting Theodore Long to make a Fatal Four way match for the WWE Championship at Armageddon. Once again, Booker failed to win the title, as JBL retained it. He then briefly teamed with Eddie Guerrero and feuded with Heidenreich. Booker won a 30-Man Battle Royal dark match at WrestleMania 21 last eliminating Raw's Viscera and "The Masterpiece" Chris Masters. Subsequently, Booker was part of the tournament to name a new number one contender and made it to the Final Four. After Kurt Angle eliminated Booker, he returned the favor, costing Angle the match against JBL. The storyline then turned to a sexual nature, as Angle began stalking Booker's new wife, Sharmell. Booker defeated Angle at Judgment Day. On the May 26 episode of SmackDown!, Booker participated in a "Winners Choice" Battle Royal, with the winner choosing his opponent for the next week. Kurt Angle won and wanted to wrestle Sharmell. Booker protested, and the match was made into a Handicap match. Angle won by pinning Sharmell in a sexual position. The next week, Booker gained revenge on Angle, defeating him with a Scissors Kick. On June 30, JBL defeated Christian, The Undertaker, Chris Benoit, and Booker T. During the match, Booker got specifically involved with Christian. Booker later defeated Christian at The Great American Bash. Booker T began teaming with Chris Benoit, eying the United States Championship again. Meanwhile, after a series of matches with MNM, Sharmell introduced some villainous characteristics unknown to Booker. Benoit was allowed to pick his next challenger to see who would face him at No Mercy, so Booker, Christian, and Orlando Jordan tried to impress Benoit by winning matches. He could not choose, so he made it a Fatal Four-way for No Mercy, where Benoit successfully defended his title. On the October 21 episode of SmackDown!, Booker T defeated Benoit for the United States Championship, due to an unseen assist from Sharmell. Theodore Long later showed footage of Sharmell interfering in Booker's matches. Later, Booker and Sharmell went to apologize to Benoit and give him a rematch, but instead, he attacked Benoit, and busted him open with the U.S. title officially turning heel once again. Booker then boasted that he had been fully aware of what Sharmell had been doing and had been playing dumb to fool everyone. On November 25, Booker T fought against Benoit for the United States Championship. The match ended when Benoit superplexed Booker and two referees made a three count on either competitor, claiming that their wrestler had won. Booker was stripped of the belt by Theodore Long, because of the confusion of who won since they pinned each other at the same time. Long decided to put Benoit and Booker against each other in a best of seven series. Booker took an early 3–0 lead. In a must win match during Armageddon, Benoit was able to defeat Booker T to bring the series to 3–1. At a house show on December 2, however, Booker was injured, and he did not wrestle again until after the "Best of Seven" series with Benoit was completed. Booker was scheduled to face Benoit in Match 5 of the Best of Seven Series at the SmackDown! tapings the following night. At the beginning of the show, General Manager Theodore Long said that Booker would have to forfeit. Both Booker and Benoit protested, with Benoit not wanting a cheap victory. Booker managed to persuade Long to allow him to choose a stand-in for the matches. At the time, Orlando Jordan had been feuding most with Benoit and wanted another shot at him. However, Booker instead chose Randy Orton as his replacement. Benoit was able to beat Orton in two matches. Orton, however, was able to defeat Benoit in the final match to win the series and the title for Booker T, who held the title until No Way Out where Benoit won it back. After losing the title, Booker was involved in a feud with The Boogeyman, who continually scared Booker and Sharmell over the next few weeks. The feud culminated in a match at WrestleMania 22 on April 2, where both Booker and Sharmell lost to the Boogeyman in a handicap match. The feud came to an end on the April 7 episode of SmackDown! where it was announced that Booker and his wife had taken out a restraining order on the Boogeyman. Booker next entered the King of the Ring tournament on SmackDown!, advancing through to the finals due to a bye as his semi-final opponent, Kurt Angle, was unable to wrestle. The finals were held at Judgment Day where Booker defeated Bobby Lashley. Upon winning the King of the Ring tournament, Booker began wrestling as "King Booker" and began acting like he was an actual monarch ruling of "The SmackDown! Kingdom". Booker formed a royal court which included his wife, Queen Sharmell, Sir William Regal, and Sir Finlay, and began including the mannerisms and attire of a stereotypical English-style king as part of the character, all the way down to wearing a crown and cape and speaking in a fake English accent. However, whenever King Booker would get angry he would launch into a tirade in the style of Booker T, which lent some comedic aspect to the character as well. After gaining his title of King, Booker continued to feud with Lashley. After Lashley defeated JBL for the United States Championship at the end of May, Booker began chasing after the title and even resorted to making Lashley kiss his "royal feet" on the June 2 SmackDown. The feud ended after a steel cage match on the June 30 SmackDown where Lashley escaped to retain the United States title. The next week, King Booker entered a battle royal on SmackDown with the winner to challenge Rey Mysterio for his World Heavyweight Championship at The Great American Bash. Booker won the match and then defeated Mysterio after Chavo Guerrero turned on the champion by hitting him with a steel chair. This was Booker's first world championship since joining WWE and the win caused him to proclaim himself as the "King of the World". This win would also make Booker the sixteenth Triple Crown Champion and eighth Grand Slam Champion in the history of the WWE. After Booker won, he began a rivalry with the returning former champion Batista, who vowed to regain the title he was forced to forfeit due to injury. King Booker lost to Batista by disqualification at SummerSlam after Queen Sharmell interfered on his behalf. However, he defeated Batista at No Mercy in a match that also included Finlay and Bobby Lashley. After the match, King Booker assaulted Sir Regal, resulting in the complete breakup of the King's Court and leaving Booker alone. In spite of the break-up of his Court, King Booker defeated Batista on the October 20 episode on SmackDown, due to interference from WWE Champion John Cena from Raw and ECW World Champion Big Show, the two of whom King Booker was to face at Cyber Sunday in a "champion of champions" match. The fans voted for the king's World Heavyweight Championship to be on the line, and Booker retained after defeating Cena with help from Kevin Federline. After Cyber Sunday, the feud between King Booker and Batista continued with Batista unable to wrest the title from Booker. Eventually this led to a match at Survivor Series on November 26, where King Booker declared that if Batista failed to defeat him this time, it would be the last World Heavyweight Championship match he would receive. On the night of the show, an additional stipulation was added by SmackDown General Manager Theodore Long where if King Booker got counted out or disqualified, Batista would become champion. Late in the match, Queen Sharmell handed King Booker his title belt while referee Nick Patrick was not looking. While she had Patrick distracted, the King attempted to hit Batista with the belt. Batista moved out of the way, knocked the belt out of Booker's hands, picked it back up, and used it himself to hit the champion in the head. An unconscious King Booker was pinned shortly afterward and lost his World Heavyweight Championship. After losing the World title, Booker feuded alongside former royal court member Finlay against Batista and John Cena, which led up to Armageddon where they lost. While competing in the Royal Rumble match, Booker was eliminated by Kane. A frustrated Booker returned to the ring illegally and eliminated Kane. This started a short feud between the two resulting in a match at No Way Out, which Kane won. King Booker won a Money in the Bank qualifying match, defeating Kane (with assistance from The Great Khali) and earned himself a spot in the match at WrestleMania 23. At WrestleMania, Matt Hardy set up Sharmell for a Twist of Fate during the Money in the Bank match with the briefcase in King Booker's grasp - thus forcing him to choose between a guaranteed title shot and his wife. He chose to defend his Queen and lost the match. On the April 6 episode of SmackDown!, Booker attempted to take revenge. However, he lost the match against Matt Hardy, and Sharmell declared her disappointment in him and slapped him. In an attempt to impress his Queen, King Booker attacked The Undertaker but was Tombstoned on an announce table. Booker was removed from television to deal with a knee injury. On the June 11 episode of Raw, King Booker (along with Queen Sharmell) was drafted from SmackDown! to Raw as part of the WWE Draft. On July 16, King Booker came to the ring using Triple H's theme music "The King of Kings", even using his video. King Booker declared that neither Triple H nor Jerry Lawler could be known as "The King". Booker began a feud with Lawler, defeating him on the August 6 episode of Raw where the loser had to crown the winner the next week. When the time came, Lawler refused, declaring that Triple H was still a king and announcing that King Booker would battle Triple H at SummerSlam. Booker attacked Lawler, throwing him into the ring post and hitting him with a TV monitor. At SummerSlam, Booker lost to the returning Triple H. On the August 27 episode of Raw, Booker wrestled his last match in WWE against WWE Champion John Cena in a non-title match, which he lost by disqualification when Randy Orton interfered. In October 2007, Booker T requested his and Sharmell's release from their WWE contracts, which WWE granted. On January 30, 2011 Booker T returned to WWE to take part in the Royal Rumble. Booker entered the match at number 21 and was eliminated by Mason Ryan. At the February 1 taping of SmackDown, Booker debuted as the show's new color commentator, working beside Josh Mathews and Michael Cole, replacing Matt Striker. He was also announced as a coach for the returning Tough Enough competition, and at Elimination Chamber he introduced Trish Stratus as a fellow coach. On the June 6 episode of Raw, Booker wrestled his first match on the brand in four years, gaining a victory against Jack Swagger by count out. On the November 21 episode of Raw, Cody Rhodes threw water in Booker T’s face after Rhodes allegedly heard Booker T criticize him, thus starting a conflict between the two. On the November 29 episode of SmackDown Booker was scheduled to face Rhodes in a match but it did not happen after Rhodes attacked him from behind him during a backstage interview. On the December 9 episode of 'SmackDown, Rhodes attacked Booker again while heading to the announcer's table leaving him with paramedics. Later that night, Booker T attacked Rhodes during his match with Daniel Bryan which led to an Intercontinental Championship match at TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs. On December 13 at WWE Tribute to the Troops, Booker once again attacked Rhodes during another match with Bryan, costing Rhodes the match. At TLC, Cody Rhodes attacked Booker twice from behind and retained the Intercontinental Championship after performing two beautiful disasters. On the December 23 episode of SmackDown, Booker distracted Rhodes during a match with Zack Ryder by singing a parody of Rudolph the Rednosed Reindeer about Rhodes which cost Rhodes the match. On the December 26 episode of Raw, Booker defeated Rhodes in a non-title match. On the January 6, 2012, episode of SmackDown, Booker challenged Rhodes a second time for the Intercontinental Championship, but once again failed to win the title. This ended the feud in the process.105 Booker T along with fellow commentators Jerry Lawler and Michael Cole all participated in the 2012 Royal Rumble. On the March 26, 2012 episode of Raw, Booker T saved Teddy Long from an attempted attack by Mark Henry, thus becoming the sixth and final member of Team Teddy at WrestleMania XXVIII. At WrestleMania XXVIII, Team Johnny defeated Team Teddy. On the July 9 episode of Raw, Jerry Lawler won by pinfall against Michael Cole in a WrestleMania XXVII rematch. However, Booker, who was subbing for Lawler on commentary, threw Cole back into the ring after he tried to escape. This caused the anonymous Raw General Manager to reverse the decision and give Cole the win as a result of a disqualification. On July 31, 2012, it was announced on WWE.com that Booker T was the new General Manager of SmackDown. Booker would quickly add Eve Torres and Theodore Long to his staff, as his assistant and senior adviser respectively. It was announced on the March 18, 2013 episode of Raw that Booker would be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame. He was inducted by his brother, Stevie Ray the night before Wrestlemania XXIX. On the April 19 episode of SmackDown, Booker became angry with Long for making matches without his consent, only for Big Show to arrive and thank Long for doing a better job than Booker, further infuriating him. On the April 22 episode of Raw, he again became upset with Long for making a match for the World Heavyweight Championship at Extreme Rules, retaliating by making it a triple threat match. Booker then went on hiatus due to a torn distal triceps, on which he had surgery to repair it on June 12. On the July 19 episode of SmackDown, Booker returned to continue his duties as SmackDown General Manager, only to lose the position to Vickie Guerrero after an announcement by Vince McMahon. For all of 2014, he did work on the WWE Network, including the Raw pre-show and also being a part of the "expert panel" on Kickoff shows before each pay-per-view event. On the 2015 premiere of Raw, Booker T replaced Jerry Lawler, who was suffering from diverticulitis, for commentating. However, it was later announced that Booker would be returning on a full-time basis to take Lawler's place on Raw. Booker T was unceremoniously fired by Triple H on March 2, 2015. However, Triple H reversed his decision to show his authority. On the March 30 episode of Raw, Booker, along with JBL and Michael Cole, was attacked by Brock Lesnar after Seth Rollins refused Lesnar his WWE World Heavyweight Championship rematch. Booker was replaced by Byron Saxton for commentating as he became a coach for the sixth season of WWE Tough Enough. After Tough Enough ended Saxton was kept on as Raw announcer permanently and Booker switched to the SmackDown announce team, shortly becoming the new heel announcer for the brand by praising the heel wrestlers during their matches. After SmackDown moved to the USA Network in January 2016, Booker left the SmackDown announce team and joined the Raw pre-show team. Category:Sports announcers Category:World Heavyweight Champions Category:World Tag Team Champions Category:Intercontinental Champions Category:United States Champions Category:WWE Hardcore Champions Category:King Of The Ring Winners Category:Triple Crown Champions Category:Grand Slam Champions Category:American wrestlers Category:Male professional wrestlers Category:People from Louisiana Category:Current Superstar Category:WWE Hall Of Fame Category:Smackdown General Managers